Promise Of A Lifetime
by novocaine-x
Summary: //"Sakura-chan? Promise me you'll take care of her. Promise me you'll take of Hinata"// What would you do if the one you loved had been killed, and you never got to tell them how you felt? NaruHina


**Author's Note:** Hey! I have a new story! (Though it's a very short one-shot, I'm afraid...)

Yeah... This one, is dedicated to one of my best friends, Rachel, who, (for some odd reason) seems to think that there aren't enough NaruHina stories here... (Well, buddy, you're wrong...  
I still say you're not looking hard enough...)

_You'd better like this_... Or else I'm going to start calling you by your second name... xD ...Nah...just kidding... (smirk) I'm not that mean. XDDD

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. (Like, no duh.)

Btw...  
Italics: Flashback  
Normal font: (duh) Normal. xD

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* * *

_

_"Sakura."_

_"N-no...please...don't...don't leave us like this."_

_Viridian eyes clenched shut as the young girl sobbed uncontrollably, her hands fisted into his jacket._

_"Sakura..." _

_He was struggling to breathe. She could see that._

_"Don't..." _

_Vermilion blood was coughed up as he wheezed painfully. Her heart clenched in anguish as cold fingers wrapped around it._

_"...Don't cry." He laughed bitterly and raised a weak hand to her face as he gently stroked her cheek._

_She shook her head. She refused to believe this was happening._

_"Don't cry," he whispered. His eyes were closing shut now. His breathing was laboured._

_He was_ him_. He couldn't die. He...he couldn't. He was supposed to be there for her. He promised her that he'd always be with her no matter what. _

_And now he was...leaving her._

_"I need you to do me a favour, Sakura..."_

_Her breath caught in her throat. She watched him through clouded eyes as he took his last breaths; each ragged intake of air shook his entire body._

_"Anything..." she replied, as she raised a pale hand to wipe her eyes._

_"I want you to...tell Hinata something for me..."_

_She nodded shakily, her hands quivering as she held him._

_"Go on..."_

_He angled his face to look her in the eyes and gave her a wry smile, before his eyes closed completely._

_She let out a shuddering gasp as a sob escaped her buish lips._

_"Naruto?"_

_..._

_"...Yeah...I'm still here..."_

_"What did you want me to tell her?"_

-xXx-

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip._

Pastel lavender eyes slid shut as heavy droplets of tears rolled down porcelain cheeks.

The dark haired girl let out a strangled sob and moved her hand to clutch her chest, as her brows furrowed down in pain and sorrow.

'_Naruto-kun…'_

She heard the others talking in low tones. Some with grief, others in disbelief.

Her eyes fluttered open slowly, as pale orbs gazed at all the people who were standing around her, mourning at the loss of one of Konoha's most beloved ninjas. A great friend…companion…teammate…student…

But most of all, a great person…

… _Naruto Uzumaki_…

-xXx-

"_Sasuke! Sakura! We have to go. The enemy is approaching quickly."_

"_NO!" _

_The young Hyuuga's eyes softened at the strangled cry that left Sakura's lips._

"… _Sakura…we tried. There's nothing more we can do…"_

"_NO! How can you say that? We can't leave him!" she yelled, as tears ran down her pale face, while Sasuke placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. His dark eyes held something akin to pain._

"_Sakura…I told you. We tried…" muttered Neji, shaking his head._

"… _But-" she started, before being cut off by him._

"_But nothing. He would have wanted you to get out of here safely. Both of you…in trying to save him, if something happened to either of you, he would've died in vain. You don't want that do you? This is the life of a shinobi. We should be able to face th-"_

"_What if I don't want to face the consequences?! Huh?! What if that's the case, Neji? Tell me!" she yelled out. "If that's what being a shinobi means, then I wish I'd never been one!"_

_He sighed as his pale grey eyes slid shut._

"_He was a friend to us all…losing him will be terrible. I know I could never understand how you feel…you both shared the strongest of bonds with him…but if you stay here, grieving and pining for that which is forever lost…" he continued, his eyes snapping open. "Then his death would be utterly worthless!"_

"_Shut up, Hyuuga." Snarled the last remaining Uchiha, his eyes hardening, as his hand curled into a fist._

"_Why should I, Uchiha?"_

"_Because you don't know what it feels like, so don't act like you do!" hissed Sasuke, glaring at the white eyed boy in front of him._

"_I understand, bu-,"_

"_You'd never understand. So don't eve-," he was cut off, as an arrow flew in their direction and embedded itself onto a nearby tree._

_Onyx orbs widened as more arrows and shurikens were thrown their way, before the trio jumped back as a paper bomb was thrown at them._

_Panting harshly, Sasuke laid down his best friend's limp form and narrowed his eyes as his gaze swept around the vicinity._

_He felt a presence lurking up behind him and whirled around defensively, kunai in hand. His eyes widened as he felt a kunai at his neck and he let out a deep growl. _

_Throwing his head back, he gazed at the attacker with his sharingan, knocking him out cold. Smirking, he stepped back for a moment and looked around, trying to spot the other two._

_His guard was lowered as he leaned back against a tree and tried to catch his breath. The month-long mission had taken a toll on him and he barely had any chakra left. His eyes slid shut as he exhaled slowly, his hand still clutching the blade to his side firmly. He failed to notice the approaching enemy and was taken aback when he felt a senbon being thrown at his neck. _

_His knees buckled and the ground seemed to tilt as the poison sunk in, before h__e fell back, a pained groan escaping his lips._

_His eyes rolled shut and he slipped out of consciousness. The last thing he heard was Sakura crying out in alarm as she she ran towards him, beckoning Neji._

_She placed her hands on his neck and searched for a pulse. Finding it, she breathed out in relief and got to work on pulling out the needle, placing her fingers at the spot to clot the blood._

…

"_Neji! Be careful, the arrows are doused in poison. And Sasuke-kun's unconscious," warned Sakura, as she stood up quickly, supporting Sasuke against her small frame._

_Neji cursed in response and activated his Byakugan, seeking out the adversary, throwing a few kunai and hitting each of them with exact precision. _

"_Quick! Just get him and let's leave. We're dangerously outnumbered."_

"_But what about Nar-,"_

"_I told you! It's too late!" he snapped, as he dodged a shuriken that was aimed at his head._

"_Bu-,"_

"_JUST GET UCHIHA AND FUCKING LEAVE!" he yelled, as he took out another kunai, and aimed._

"…_What about you?"_

"_I'll try to distract them. Just get Sasuke, and go! Make sure they can't get the scroll." _

_Sakura bit backed a panicked sob, and placing the scroll in her backpack, went to hoist up Sasuke._

_Using the rest of her chakra, she ran the rest of the way back to Konoha, throwing a worried glance at the scene behind her, as she steadied Sasuke's head, which was resting on her shoulder._

_

* * *

_

"_Hinata! Quick! We need you at the hospital! There's an emergency!"_

_The Hyuuga heiress looked up urgently, and followed the Yamanaka girl to the hospital._

_As she reached the reception area, she was called away by some of the nurses to one of the critical wards._

_She rested her hand on the door, and taking a deep breath, pushed it open warily, before letting out a shaken gasp and placing her hand over her mouth._

"_Neji!"_

_She ran towards her cousin, who turned his head towards her weakly, and wiped her moist eyes._

"…_N-Naruto…"_

"_Don't talk…" she ordered, even as her heart raced at the mention of the blonde's name, fearing that something was not right. _

_She got to work, healing most of his wounds, as he passed out, trying to stop the blood that was flowing out from all his injuries, seeing Tsuande doing the same with Sasuke, as Sakura lay down on the other bed at the end of the room, a nurse attending to her._

_She tried not to think about why Naruto wasn't there… Why she hadn't seen him through the glass doors, as she ran past the different rooms… Why, through all this time, she felt as though something had gone horribly wrong… Why, all of a sudden, she felt so unbearably empty…_

-xXx-

She watched as people turned to leave, having paid their respects to his memorial.

She walked slowly towards the stone monument which had his name carved onto it, and placed a single, white rose beneath it.

"…Hinata…"

Said girl turned around to see Sakura who was standing next to Sasuke, his hands in his pockets.

"Sakura…"

Both girls stared at each other for a moment, before moving forward to exchange a hug, tears rolling down both their faces.

Sakura pulled back first, and taking the other girl's hand in hers, smiled sadly.

"You know…he told me…he made me promise, that if anything happened to him, I was to look after you…" she whispered, before bringing the girl into another hug.

Hinata let out a sob, as her eyes clenched shut again, while she returned the hug, a million thoughts running through her head, as she became more and more emotionally unstable.

"…And he said…that if I ever let anything happen to you, he'd come back from the dead and haunt me for the rest of my life…"

The nineteen year old rosette forced out a laugh, and moved to wipe away the tears that were still flowing steadily down her cheeks.

"…He told me to tell you, that he always noticed you, contrary to what you might've thought. He said that I had to force you to make a promise to him…that you won't ever forget him… But also that you don't always grieve over him…and move on…" Sakura trailed off, and flashing the girl in front of her a pained smile.

The Hyuuga heiress nodded; her pale eyes slid shut as a sigh escaped her lips.

"Thank you...Sakura."

Hinata blinked slowly, and let out a deep breath, hugging herself as the cold wind wrapped around her.

She turned around to gaze at the monument sadly, placing a finger over his name, and tracing it gently, a soft smile making its way up her face.

When she had first heard the news about his death, she had been devastated…

She had felt as if she had nothing to live for…but now…now she felt as if she could go on. As if there was something that would allow her to make it through and strive. And that something…

'… _I promise, Naruto-kun… And I never break my promises…'_

Was a promise of a lifetime…

* * *

**Eye-catch:** A young woman with dark hair sat in front of the monument, reading a book. A small, brown haired little girl played around nearby.

The woman looked up, her features softening, as she ran her fingers along that familiar name, her lips moving slightly as if she was whispering some long, forgotten secret…

…

_Or was she just recalling a promise of a lifetime?_

* * *

_This story didn't come out as well as I had hoped it would...but oh well...__I'm not one to write romance anyway... (shrugs)  
__As for the so-called-angst...I know, I know...it wasn't even angsty... (rolls eyes)  
__It seemed waaaay better in my head...trust me. It did. -.- _

_I swear, it's so much more easier to come up with ideas and think about them (seriously, 'cause my brain is like on a continuous loop of neverending angsty images...blood...gore...morbid stuff... etc, etc... lol...), but it is_ really _challenging to actually convert those ideas into words...like, seriously._

_This story sucked...  
__But hey...I tried! (shrugs)_

_Reviews would be appreciated. And let me know if I can somehow fix this story... (please?)_

_Thank you for reading though._


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